Hey, sad looking chicken wings — your time is up. Move over and make way for the much bigger and meatier turkey wing. Matt Basile, the smiling face behind Fidel Gastro’s – which he describes as a “food experience company” — has turkey wings on the menu of his new Queen Street West restaurant, Lisa Marie.
As one of the chef’s taking part in the upcoming Abbey’s Kitchen Stadium, Matt will compete with other popular Toronto chefs in an event that is billed as a mix of Top Chef, Chopped, and Iron Chef. The test of the chef’s creativity will be seeing what he can make with an assigned mystery ingredient and to see if it’s enough to please the celebrity judges and allow him to move to the final round.
A practice Ghetto Gourmet seemed like the ideal way to warm up Matt’s kitchen improv skills. A jar of chunky peanut butter was his ingredient and with it he created a sweet and spicy peanut butter sauce brushed onto crispy, yet juicy turkey wings. Sesame oil, chili flakes, soy sauce ,and magical sriracha sauce were mixed together with the chunky PB. The turkey wings are flash fried, then braised for three hours to keep them moist. After they’re cooled, Matt likes to coat them in flour before frying them a second time. The thick peanut butter sauce is brushed onto the wings to create a sweet and sticky coating. He decides to play on PB & J by adding a little drunken strawberry sauce on the side. The “drunken” part comes from the Sailor Jerry rum in the sauce.
An experienced pop-up vendor, food truck operator (his truck is named, Priscilla), and star of his own reality show, Rebel Without a Kitchen, that follows his hectic catering and event dramas, Matt has no worries about preparing food for the guests at the first AKS event. “Doing 150 portions is nothing compared to what we did for TUM,” he says coolly. Many will remember Matt as a pop-up vendor at the popular Toronto Underground Market (TUM) events.
“Is there any item you really hope you don’t get?” I ask.
Always easy-going, Matt shrugs, “I can work with anything. But I kind of don’t want vegetables. I’d be happy if they stayed away from vegetables. I have a hard time looking past them as something that’s just nutritious.”
Whatever Matt makes, it won’t stray from the items he creates for his catering, food truck, or his new restaurant. “My food has street food influences, but it’s all fun food. If it’s fun, it can be on the menu.”
Follow Fidel Gastro’s on Twitter: @fidelgastros
Get your tickets for Abbey’s Kitchen Stadium here.
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